


We're Going To Be Happy, Aren't We?

by AstroKilly



Category: Into the Badlands (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bathing/Washing, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Hopeful Ending, Injury Recovery, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25198456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroKilly/pseuds/AstroKilly
Summary: Veil arrives a little sooner and finds an injured Sunny before the River King. ( Divergent 1x06 basically )
Relationships: Sunny/Veil (Into the Badlands)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	We're Going To Be Happy, Aren't We?

Sunny wakes up to the feel of someone dragging a sponge over his body. He opens his eyes slowly, and finds Jade washing his stomach.

"Where's Veil?" Sunny croaks, and Jade's eyes snap up to meet his. 

She smiles gently, and retracts her hand to dips the sponge in a bucket on the nightstand. "She's resting in my room. She expended quite a bite of effort fussing over you the past three days."

Sunny relaxes slightly, and he starts to feel the aches the Abbotts left him. He appears to be in Quinn's room, and though he can't say he's happy to be back at the Fort, he'll take waking up somewhere familiar as a win. 

"After your bath, I'll make you something to eat, and then you can see her."

Sunny nods. He allows Jade to continue his sponge bath, surprised by the kindness. His throat is painfully dry, but he has to know, "What happened?" 

Jade nudges him to sit up, and he obliges, groaning at the pain that shoots through him. She hands him a glass of water from the nighstand, and he drinks from it desperately as she speaks. "Veil found you outside the Dollhouse, then Ryder found her, and then the River King found them."

Sunny frowns. The River King must've figured out he hadn't killed M.K. and come to collect him. He winces in pain as he sets the nearly empty glass on the table, his head spinning just enough to let him know that even after three days of rest, he still wasn't okay. 

The door opens just as Jade starts on his back, and Ryder steps in. He looks between them briefly then his gaze lands on Jade.

"I'll finish up," Ryder tells her.

Jade nods and stands. "I'll get started on that food," she adds to Sunny before leaving, sharing a sweet kiss with Ryder as she hands him the sponge.

Ryder takes her seat and runs the sponge over his back. "I remember you doing this once when I was a Colt. I never imagined I'd return the favor."

Sunny studies him, unsure if he can trust this kindness from Ryder who was manipulative but just a little too reckless to be described as cunning. "I remember. You'd gotten into a fight with another Colt. Your first kill."

"My first kill," Ryder repeats. "I was a wreck after and I tried to keep it together, but you saw right through me. You took me to the Clipper baths and washed off all traces of what I'd done because I'd gone into shock."

"I know what it's like to kill someone you didn't mean to," Sunny says, wondering what exactly Ryder was trying to get at. "I know it eats at you in a way that purposeful killing never does."

Ryder scrubs at a spot in between his shoulders blades. "It does, doesn't it?" He murmurs. 

Sunny waits for more, for his point, but it doesn't come, so when Ryder lifts the sponge from his back, he asks, "Why did you come back?"

Ryder hesitates to answer. He dips the sponge back in the warm water then forces Sunny to lift his arm up so he can clean his side and armpit. "Because you saved me from whatever that boy is, and I needed to know if you survived him...I found Veil crouched over you."

"Jade mentioned the River King."

Ryder's face twists into something half amused, half angry. "Yeah, uh, he wasn't happy that you'd tricked him, but luckily I traded something he thought was more valuable. My father."

Sunny stares at him in disbelief. "You traded your father to the River King for me?"

"For _me_ , but for your life," Ryder corrects. "I think that makes us even, don't you?"

"I've saved your life more than once." 

Ryder cracks a smile at that, and makes him lift his other arm so he can continue bathing him. "Yes and that's why I'm willing to offer you something my father never did. A choice."

Sunny eyes him cautiously, managing to turn himself with minimal pain so Ryder can wash him easier. "What choice?"

"A choice to stay here as my Clipper with Veil and your child, and my protection or to chase this dream of a city that might not exist anymore."

Sunny guesses Veil told him about their plans after their run in with the River King. "You would offer us a place here?"

Ryder shrugs. "I'm in need of a Regent, especially as I now control three territories, and I think having a family to protect is quite the motivator to keep this place, and any family I might have safe."

Sunny wants to say yes immediately, to place his trust in Ryder, in what he knows, but there's one thing keeping the word stuck in his throat. "If I agree to stay, I need you to help me find M.K."

Ryder furrows his brow. "What do you want with that black-eyed freak?"

"Someone took him, and I have to get him back."

Ryder narrows his eyes. "Why? It seems to me you have everything you need right here."

"He's my Colt and he's...he's my family too."

Ryder eyes him, surprise clear in his expression. " _Fine_. If you agree to stay I'll allow you to search for him in your spare time and ask around myself for any leads."

Sunny nods slowly. "Then I'll stay."

Tension seems to ease out of Ryder. He trails the sponge across Sunny's torso then retracts his hand and sets the sponge aside. "Veil can wash the rest of you later."

"Thank you," Sunny says as Ryder stands.

"Don't thank me. We have a lot of work to do and I expect you back on your feet in two days time."

Sunny nods once, and tries to stand, but fails - pain flaring up and leaving his body aching.

"You need to rest," Ryder chides.

"I need the bathroom."

Ryder sighs, but helps him to the bathroom where he relieves himself, then back to his bed before leaving him to rest. He's just drifting off to sleep when the door opens, and Veil steps in with a tray and a tired smile.

"Jade told me you'd finally woken up." She says. She sets the tray on the chair, and sits on the edge of the bed. 

Sunny grabs her hands. He isn't sure where they stand - if she had been in town because she wanted to leave with him or because she'd gotten wind of Jacobee and Ryder's trap and wondered about what had happened to M.K. 

Veil must see the uncertainty on his face because she says, "I was going to leave with you, Sunny."

"You were?" He questions, half hopeful, half surprised. 

Veil slips one hand from his and cups his face. "Yeah...look, Sunny, I'm not saying that I'm ready to forgive you for not stopping Quinn from...from killing my parents, but I'm willing to give you the time to prove to me that I should. If not for your sake, then our child's." 

Sunny allows himself to lean into her touch then. "I _am_ sorry for my part in their death, but I had to put you first and I couldn't do that if I stepped in. I just hope I can earn your forgiveness." 

Veil stares at him a moment, expression unreadable, then kisses his cheek. "I hope you can too," she whispers as she pulls away. She turns and grabs a bowl from the tray, offering him a spoonful of soup.

They settle into a comfortable silence as Veil feeds him and it gives him time to process everything. Quinn was off the board, M.K. was lost for now, Veil was safe, and Ryder was his new Baron. Things weren't great, but they could've been a lot worse if the River King or Quinn, who should've been dead, had found him first. 

Once he's eaten, Veil joins him on the bed, curling into his side and the silence becomes heavy. 

Veil breaks it as he struggles to find words. "We're staying in the badlands aren't we?"

Sunny looks down at her, her soft brown eyes looking up at him. He nods once.

Veil doesn't appear to be happy, but she doesn't look surprised either.

"Ryder says he'll allow us to be together, and to protect us as long as I protect him."

"And you trust him?"

"I trust that I'm valuable to him, and that he needs me to protect his own interests." Sunny explains. "I trust that you're valuable to him not just because he knows I'll walk without you, but because you're a doctor."

"But not him?"

Sunny thinks back on all the time he's known Ryder and he doesn't have an easy answer. He's seen all sides of Ryder at this point. "I don't know, but I think he's easier to reach than Quinn."

Veil looks away, and he thinks she understands what he means. She nuzzles her face against his torso. "I suppose we don't really have a choice without M.K. or safe passage out of the Badlands."

Sunny rubs her arm gently. "I'm going to find M.K. and maybe one day, when our child is old enough for travel, we can all still go to Azra."

"I'd like that," Veil says, then, "We'll probably have to take that Butterfly with us."

"Tilda?" Sunny questions, then chuckles. "Probably."

Veil traces the lines of his body absently. "A Cog, a Clipper, a Colt, a Butterfly and a baby...we'll make quite the odd little family in Azra."

"But we'll all have each other and that's all that matters."

Veil hums, then, "We're going to be happy, aren't we?"

"Yes," Sunny agrees firmly,"because I'm never going to stop fighting to get us there." 

Veil sits up enough so she hovers over his face. " _We're_ never going to stop."

Sunny smiles and she kisses him on the mouth this time - a soft, firm press. It's short, but sweet and tells him she means it that she wants to forgive him. Veil settles at his side once more, and drags his hand to rest on her stomach.

To his unborn child, he makes a silent promise: _You will not grow up in the Badlands._

**Author's Note:**

> anyways I'm rewatching and I had an idea and I hope you enjoyed this little fic!


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